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Forbes: Miami Dolphins 1 of 2 NFL teams to lose money in 2009

At least they are according to financial estimates made by Forbes magazine, which released its annual NFL Team Valuations yesterday and determined that the Dolphins lost $7.7 million in operating income in 2009, joining the Detroit Lions, who lost $2.9 million, as the only two teams to lose money last year.

The other 30 NFL teams turned at least a $2.1 million profit (before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization), with the Dallas Cowboys ($143.3 million) and Washington Redskins ($103.7 million) as the runaway leaders. New England, the third-most profitable team last year, pulled in $66.5 million in operating income. The Dolphins turned a $26.6 million profit in 2008, equaling a decline of $34.3 million in operating income over one year.

Overall, Forbes valued the Dolphins at $1.011 billion, putting them squarely in the middle of the pack as the 16th-most valuable franchise, just behind the Cleveland Browns and ahead of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Dolphins owner Stephen Ross paid $1.1 billion for the team in 2008. Last year was the first time this decade the Dolphins did not have a positive operating income or increase the value of the franchise from the previous year, according to Forbes.

The figures by Forbes are estimates, since the Dolphins are a private corporation and not required to open their books. Only the Green Bay Packers, a publicly held company, are forced to share their financial information.

Interestingly, while the value of the Dolphins dropped approximately $4 million between 2009 and 2010, the Dolphins jumped up two spots in the NFL rankings, from 18th to 16th. Forbes notes that as a whole, NFL team values fell 2% last season to an average of $1.02 billion, the first decline since the magazine began tracking the league’s finances in 1998. Overall, 21 of the NFL’s 32 teams saw their values drop in 2009, due mostly to the decrease in demand to buy a team brought on by the poor economy.

Also according to Forbes, the Dolphins ranked No. 26 in the NFL in local TV ratings, and achieved 30 percent fewer victories per dollar of payroll compared with the league average.

However, the financials can be misleading. The Dolphins still increased their overall revenue, from $232 million to $242 million last year. And the Dolphins appear to have sacrificed profits in 2009 to better position themselves for the future.

Forbes notes:

The Dolphins took two key steps to improve their finances during the off-season. The team sold the naming rights to their stadium to insurer Sun Life for $4 million a year (an additional $1.5 million a year from the deal is paid to charities), replacing the temporary, soft-dollar deal it had with Jimmy Buffett’s Land Shark Lager. More importantly, the Dolphins refinanced $235 million of stadium debt in a deal that includes a $159 million letter of credit that backs taxable municipal bonds sold through a government conduit but for which the stadium corporation is responsible. The deal, arranged by Goldman Sachs, contains a credit reserve that is significantly bigger than it otherwise would have been to account for the possibility of a work stoppage in 2011.

The detailed report for the Dolphins can be found here. For a comparison, the 2008 valuations can be found here.

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[…] Forbes: Miami Dolphins 1 of 2 NFL teams to lose money in 2009 – Palm Beach Post (blog)The Miami Dolphins are the NFL’s biggest loser. At least they’re according to financial estimates made by Forbes magazine, which released its annual NFL Team Valuations yesterday and determined that the […]